Electronic device

ABSTRACT

An electronic device includes a first substrate, a display unit disposed on the first substrate, a sensor unit disposed on the first substrate, and a first light blocking layer disposed between the sensor unit and the first substrate. The first light blocking layer blocks a light entering the sensor unit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 16/991,007, filed on Aug. 11, 2020. The content of the applicationis incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to an electronic device and a method ofperforming fingerprint recognition using an electronic device, and moreparticularly to an electronic device capable of improving the signal tonoise ratio and a related fingerprint recognition method.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In recent years, with the progress of technology, information productsmay have fingerprint recognition function to protect the user data.However, ambient light and light generated by information productsthemselves may affect the accuracy of fingerprint recognition, so how toimprove the performance of fingerprint recognition is still an issuethat needs continuous efforts in the industry.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

One of the objects of the present disclosure is to provide an electronicdevice and a method of performing fingerprint recognition. Since theelectronic device includes a light blocking layer, the light noiseentering a sensor unit can be reduced, and the signal to noise ratio canbe further increased, thereby improving the performance of fingerprintrecognition.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an electronic devicewhich includes a first substrate, a display unit disposed on the firstsubstrate, a sensor unit disposed on the first substrate, and a firstlight blocking layer disposed between the sensor unit and the firstsubstrate. The first light blocking layer blocks alight entering thesensor unit.

These and other objectives of the present disclosure will no doubtbecome obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the embodiment that is illustrated inthe various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of anelectronic device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top-view of a first substrate of the electronicdevice shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a schematic top-view of a second substrate of the electronicdevice shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the electronicdevice shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a secondembodiment and a variant embodiment of an electronic device according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a third embodimentand a variant embodiment of an electronic device according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view enlargement schematicdiagram of a fourth embodiment and variant embodiments of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a fifth embodimentof an electronic device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a variantembodiment of the fifth embodiment of an electronic device according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a sixthembodiment and variant embodiments of an electronic device according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a seventhembodiment of an electronic device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a first variantembodiment of the seventh embodiment of an electronic device accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a second variantembodiment of the seventh embodiment of an electronic device accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a third variantembodiment of the seventh embodiment of an electronic device accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a fourth variantembodiment of the seventh embodiment of an electronic device accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a fifth variantembodiment of the seventh embodiment of an electronic device accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of an eighthembodiment of an electronic device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a variantembodiment of the eighth embodiment of an electronic device according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 19 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of a ninthembodiment of an electronic device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of the signal according to an embodimentof a method of performing fingerprint recognition of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 21 is an exterior schematic diagram of an embodiment of anelectronic device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart according to an embodiment of performingfingerprint recognition of an electronic device according to the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure may be understood by reference to the followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings asdescribed below. It is noted that, for purposes of illustrative clarityand being easily understood by the readers, various drawings of thisdisclosure show only a portion of the device, and certain components indrawings may not be drawn to scale. In addition, the number anddimension of each component shown in drawings are only illustrative andare not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claimsto refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art willunderstand, electronic equipment manufacturers may refer to a componentby different names. This document does not intend to distinguish betweencomponents that differ in name but not function. In the followingdescription and in the claims, the terms “include” and “comprise” areused in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean“include, but not limited to . . . ”. When the terms “include”,“comprise” and/or “have” are used in the description of the presentdisclosure, the corresponding features, areas, steps, operations and/orcomponents would be pointed to existence, but not limited to theexistence or increase of one or a plurality of the corresponding orother features, areas, steps, operations, components and/or combinationsthereof. When the corresponding component or layer is referred to asbeing “on” or “connected to” another component or layer, it may bedirectly on or directly connected to the other component or layer, orintervening components or layers may be presented. In contrast, when thecorresponding component or layer is referred to as being “directly on”or “directly connected to” another component or layer, there are nointervening components or layers presented.

Although the terms such as “first”, “second”, “third” and so on is usedto describe or may be used to describe or name different members, suchmembers are not limited to these terms. These terms are used todistinguish one member from other members in the description and are notrelated to the manufacturing sequence of such members. The same termsmay not be used in the claims, and “first”, “second”, “third” and so onmay be substituted according to the claiming sequence of the members inthe claims. Accordingly, in the following description, the first membermay be a second member in the claims.

It should be noted that the technical features in different embodimentsdescribed in the following can be replaced, recombined, or mixed withone another to constitute another embodiment without departing from thespirit of the present disclosure.

Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 . FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectionalview of a first embodiment of an electronic device according to thepresent disclosure. FIG. 2 is a schematic top-view of a first substrateof the electronic device shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 3 is a schematictop-view of a second substrate of the electronic device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the electronicdevice shown in FIG. 1 , and shows the cross-sectional structures alongline A-A′ and line B-B′ in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 . As shown in FIG. 1 , anelectronic device 100 of a first embodiment of the present disclosure isviewable from a viewing side 200, that is, a surface of the electronicdevice 100 closest to the viewing side 200 can be regarded as a displaysurface 100 d (a top surface of the electronic device 100 in FIG. 1 ) ofthe electronic device 100, and an user USR may view the display surface100 d of the electronic device 100 from the viewing side 200 to enjoyimages or pictures displayed by the electronic device 100. A directionDZ represents a direction that the display surface 100 d faces the userUSR. It should be noted that, in FIG. 1 , the display surface 100 d isat the side of the electronic device 100 closest to the user USR. Aperson skilled in the art may easily understand that the display surface100 d may face different directions depending on the installationposition or application environment of the electronic device 100.

The electronic device 100 includes a first substrate SUB1, a secondsubstrate SUB2, a display unit DPU and a sensor unit SSU. The secondsubstrate SUB2 is disposed between the first substrate SUB1 and theviewing side 200, and the display unit DPU is disposed between the firstsubstrate SUB1 and the second substrate SUB2, for example, formed on anupper surface SUB11 of the first substrate SUB1. The display unit DPUmay be used to control a display media layer DML. It should be notedthat, although FIG. 1 shows the display unit DPU in one layer, thedisplay unit DPU may include (but is not limited to) a plurality oflayers, a plurality of switch elements and a plurality of traces, andthese switch elements and traces may be respectively disposed indifferent layers of the display unit DPU.

The sensor unit SSU is disposed between the first substrate SUB1 and thesecond substrate SUB2. In some embodiments, the sensor unit SSU may bedisposed on the second substrate SUB2, that is, the sensor unit SSU isdisposed on a surface of the second substrate SUB2 or at a position thatis close to the surface of the second substrate SUB2, for example,disposed on a lower surface SUB21 of the second substrate SUB2, as shownin FIG. 1 . In other embodiments, the sensor unit SSU may be disposed onan upper surface SUB22 of the second substrate SUB2. It should be notedthat, although FIG. 1 shows the sensor unit SSU in one layer, the sensorunit SSU may include (but is not limited to) a plurality of layers, aplurality of sensing elements, driving elements and/or reading elements,and these elements may be respectively disposed in different layers.

Furthermore, the electronic device 100 further includes a first lightblocking layer LB1 disposed between the sensor unit SSU and the viewingside 200, and the first light blocking layer LB1 may be disposed on thesurface of the second substrate SUB2, for example, disposed on the lowersurface SUB21 of the second substrate SUB2, as shown in FIG. 1 . Inother variant embodiments, the first light blocking layer LB1 may bedisposed on the upper surface SUB22 of the second substrate SUB2, thatis to say, the second substrate SUB2 is between the first light blockinglayer LB1 and the sensor unit SSU, but not limited thereto.

As an example, the electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes aliquid crystal display device, which may include a light emitting unit,a backlight module BLU and a display media layer DML. The backlightmodule BLU is on a side of the first substrate SUB that is opposite tothe side that second substrate exists, that is, the first substrate SUB1is between the second substrate SUB2 and the backlight module BLU. InFIG. 1 , the backlight module BLU is adjacent to a lower surface SUB12of the first substrate SUB1. In the electronic device shown in FIG. 1 ,the display media layer DML may be a liquid crystal layer, but notlimited thereto. In some embodiments, the display media layer DML mayinclude an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a light emitting diode(LED), such as a micro light-emitting diode (micro LED) or a minilight-emitting diode (mini LED), a quantum dot light-emitting diode(QLED/QDLED), plasma, quantum dots, fluorescent materials,phosphorescent materials, other suitable materials or combinations ofthe above-mentioned materials, but not limited thereto. It should benoted that, when the display media layer DML of the electronic device100 is self-light emitting materials, the backlight module BLU may beomitted.

The electronic device 100 of the present disclosure may include adisplay device, a tiled device, a light emitting device, a sensingdevice, an antenna device, other appropriate devices or combinations ofthe above-described devices, but not limited thereto. The tiled devicemay be, for example, a device tiled by a plurality of displays or tiledby a display and other devices such as antenna device and sensingdevice, but not limited thereto. When the electronic device 100 is not adisplay, the display unit DPU may be replaced with a circuit array unit,and the display media layer DML may be omitted. Furthermore, theelectronic device 100 of the present disclosure may be a curved-surfaceelectronic device or a bendable electronic device, among which thebendable electronic device refers to an electronic device that may becurved, bent, folded, stretched, flexed or other similarly transformed.In other words, when operating, the electronic device may have a curvedsurface or present a bending state, and the electronic device may have afixed curved surface shape or have different bending states according tothe using requirements. According to different applications, the firstsubstrate SUB1 and the second substrate SUB2 of the electronic device100 may include corresponding materials, such as a hard substrate or asoft and flexible substrate. The hard substrate may be, for example, aglass substrate, a quartz substrate or a sapphire substrate, and thesoft and flexible substrate may be, for example, a polyimide (PI)substrate, a polycarbonate (PC) substrate or a polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) substrate, but not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 , among which the backlight module BLUis omitted in FIG. 4 . The display unit DPU may be disposed on thesurface SUB11 of the first substrate SUB1, and the display unit DPU mayinclude a plurality of data lines DL and a plurality of scan lines SL.The data lines DL may extend along the direction DY, the scan lines SLmay extend along the direction DX, and the extending directions of thedata lines DL and the scan lines SL are different. The data lines DL andthe scan lines SL may be intersected with each other and may generallydefine a plurality of sub-pixels 102 (such as the regions between thedata lines DL and the scan lines SL). The sub-pixels 102 mayrespectively have a corresponding switch element TFT electricallyconnected to a corresponding data line DL, a corresponding scan line SLand a corresponding pixel electrode PXE (illustrated in FIG. 4 ) tocontrol the states of the sub-pixels 102.

Please refer to FIG. 4 . In the present disclosure, the switch elementTFT may be a thin-film transistor 162 for example. The thin-filmtransistor 162 may include a gate 162G, a source 162S, a drain 162D, asemiconductor layer 162C and a gate insulating layer 154. The gate 162Gmay be electrically connected to the scan line SL, the source 162S maybe electrically connected to the data line DL, and the drain 162D may beelectrically connected to the pixel electrode PXE. The semiconductorlayer 162C may include low temperature poly silicon (LTPS) materials,metal oxide materials or other suitable semiconductor materials.Different thin-film transistors 162 may include semiconductor layers162C of different materials, but not limited thereto. The gate 162G andthe scan line SL may be formed by a first metal layer, the source 162S,the drain 162D and the data line DL may be formed by a second metallayer, and the pixel electrode PXE may include a first transparentconductive layer. A common electrode COE may be disposed on the pixelelectrode PXE. The pixel electrode PXE and the common electrode COE maybe insulated by an insulating layer 160, and the common electrode COEmay include a second transparent conductive layer. A light shieldinglayer 164 may be further disposed on the upper surface SUB11 of thefirst substrate SUB1, and the light shielding layer 164 is between thesemiconductor layer 162C and the first substrate SUB1. The lightshielding layer 164 includes opaque materials, such as metals, but notlimited thereto. The display unit may further include a first bufferlayer 150, a second buffer layer 152, an insulating layer 156 and aninsulating layer 158. The first buffer layer 150 may be disposed betweenthe light shielding layer 164 and the first substrate SUB1, and thesecond buffer layer 152 may be disposed between the light shieldinglayer 164 and the semiconductor layer 162C. The insulating layer 156 andthe insulating layer 158 covers the gate 162G, and the insulating layer158 may be between the pixel electrode PXE and the source 162S. Itshould be noted that, the display unit DPU may further include otherelements or conducting wires, not limited to the content shown in FIG. 4. In addition, the structure illustrated in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 is anexample, and the structure of the electronic device of the presentdisclosure is not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 . The first light blocking layer LB1and the sensor unit SSU may be disposed on the surface of the secondsubstrate SUB2. The sensor unit SSU is disposed between the secondsubstrate SUB2 and the display unit DPU, and the sensor unit SSU mayinclude a plurality of sensing elements SSE. The plurality of sensingelements SSE may respectively include a driving transistor 106, areading transistor 108 and a sensor 110, but not limited thereto. Forexample, the reading transistor 108 may include a gate 108G, a source108S, a drain 108D, a semiconductor layer 108C and a gate insulatinglayer 124. The driving transistor 106 may include a similar structure,the film materials of the driving transistor 106 may refer to thethin-film transistor 162 described above, and are not redundantlydescribed herein. It should be noted that, the position of the drivingtransistor 106 or the reading transistor 108 may not necessarilycorrespond to the position of the switch element TFT of the sub-pixel.In FIG. 4 , it shows the sensor unit SSU may include a metal layeradjacent to the display unit DPU and the metal layer is opaque. To bemore specific, the sensor 110 may be, for example, a PIN semiconductorsensor, including an upper electrode 1101, a semiconductor layer 1102and a lower electrode 1103 adjacent to the display unit DPU for example.The semiconductor layer 1102 may include N-type semiconductor layer, anintrinsic semiconductor layer or a P-type semiconductor layer, and theupper electrode 1101 and the lower electrode 1103 may include atransparent conductive layer and/or an opaque conductive layer, such asmetals, but the structure and the material of the sensor 110 of thepresent disclosure are not limited to those described above. In someembodiments, the upper electrode 1101 may be electrically connected tothe reading transistor 108, and the lower electrode 1103 may beelectrically connected to a bias line 132. The first light blockinglayer LB1 may be disposed on the lower surface SUB21 of the secondsubstrate SUB2, that is, disposed between the second substrate SUB2 andthe sensor unit SSU. In a top view of the electronic device 100, thefirst light blocking layer LB1 covers at least one portion of thesensing element SSE. That is to say, in the direction DZ, the firstlight blocking layer LB1 at least partially overlaps the sensor 110, thereading transistor 108 and/or the driving transistor 106. In someembodiments, the direction DZ may be a normal direction of the secondsubstrate SUB2. The first light blocking layer LB1 may include a darkfilm which is organic or inorganic, such as an organic pigment layer ora metal layer, for example, a black matrix (BM) layer. In the directionDZ, the first light blocking layer LB1 blocks the elements of thesensing element SSE, and it is not easy to find the sensing element SSEfrom the viewing side 200, and also the reflected light on the surfaceof the display surface 100 d is reduced, such that the electronic device100 may have better visual effects on the display surface 100 d. On theother hand, the material of the first light blocking layer LB1 may blockmore than 70% amount of visible light, and the total amount of ambientlight entering the sensor 110 may be reduced, thereby reducing thegenerated background noise, improving the signal to noise ratio (S/Nratio) and/or improving the sensing accuracy. In some embodiments, theelectronic device 100 may further include a second light blocking layerLB2 disposed between the sensor unit SSU and the display media layerDML. In some embodiments, the second light blocking layer LB2 isdisposed between the sensor unit SSU and the display unit DPU. In someembodiments, the second light blocking layer LB2 may surround theperiphery of the sensor, for example, covering a sidewall, a bottomsurface and/or the bias line 132 of the sensor 110. The second lightblocking layer LB2 may reduce the noise caused by the direct orscattered light entering the sensor 110 from the lateral side or theback side (e.g., the light emitted from the backlight module BLU or thelight reflected from nearby sub-pixels), and the sensing accuracy may beimproved. The material of the second light blocking layer LB2 may be thesame as or different from the material of the first light blocking layerLB1, not redundantly described herein. The lower surface SUB21 of thesecond substrate SUB2 may be selectively disposed with an insulatinglayer 120, a buffer layer 122, an insulating layer 126, a protectivelayer 128 and a planarization layer 130. The insulating layer 120 andthe planarization layer 130 may include overcoating layer materials, forexample, including organic materials. The planarization layer 130 coversthe lower surface SUB21 of the second substrate SUB2, that is, coveringthe sensor 110 and the second light blocking layer LB2. The protectivelayer 128 may be used as a passivation layer. Each of the above layersmay respectively include an organic or inorganic insulating material,such as an oxide layer or a nitride layer, but not limited thereto. Thesensor unit SSU may be used to perform fingerprint recognition. When theuser's finger touches or approaches the display surface 100 d, light maybe reflected by the finger. After the reflected light enters the sensor110, photoelectric signals may be generated, and fingerprint recognitiondata may be obtained after processing and analyzing the fingerprintrecognition data by the processing unit. It should be noted that,although the present disclosure takes fingerprint recognition as anexample, the function of the sensor unit SSU is not limited to thefingerprint recognition.

A light converting layer may be disposed on the surface SUB21 of thesecond substrate SUB2, and the light converting layer may include aplurality of light converting elements 104 disposed in the openings ofthe patterned first light blocking layer LB1. When the electronic device100 includes a liquid crystal display panel, the light convertingelements 104 may be respectively a color light filtering layer. In FIG.3 , the symbols “R”, “G” and “B” respectively represent a red lightfiltering layer, a green light filtering layer and a blue lightfiltering layer. The red light filtering layer, the green lightfiltering layer and the blue light filtering layer are adjacently andalternately disposed in a sequence and respectively correspond to asub-pixel 102, and three of the sub-pixels 102 may be a group to form apixel. However, the colors of the color light filtering layers are notlimited to those described above. In addition, the number of thesub-pixels that forms the pixel is not limited to three, and thearrangement of the sub-pixels 102 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 3. Furthermore, although FIG. 3 shows that a sensing element SSE may bedisposed beside a pixel, the number of pixels corresponding to onesensing element SSE is not limited in the present disclosure. In otherwords, in some embodiments, it may be designed that not each pixel isarranged with a sensing element SSE.

The electronic device of the present disclosure is not limited by theaforementioned embodiments. Other different embodiments or variantembodiments of the present disclosure will be disclosed in the followingdescription. However, for simplifying the description and clearlyshowing the difference between various embodiments or variantembodiments, the identical components in the following description aremarked with identical symbols, and the repeated parts will not beredundantly described. In addition, the material and thickness of eachfilm or layer and conditions of related fabrication process in thefollowing embodiments of the present disclosure may refer to the firstembodiment, which will not be redundantly described.

Please refer to FIG. 5 . FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a second embodiment and a variant embodiment of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure. FIG. 5 mainly illustratesthe arrangement of the second substrate SUB2, the first light blockinglayer LB1 and the sensor unit SSU, and most of the other layers areomitted, wherein the arrangement of the other layers may refer to FIG. 4. The following FIG. 6 to FIG. 9 have similar omission, not redundantlydescribed hereinafter. The example (I) of FIG. 5 illustrates that afirst light blocking layer LB1 may be disposed on the upper surfaceSUB22 of the second substrate SUB2, and the sensor unit SSU may bedisposed on the lower surface SUB21 of the second substrate SUB2. Inother words, the second substrate SUB2 is disposed between the sensorunit SSU and the first light blocking layer LB1, that is, the firstlight blocking layer LB1 is disposed between the second substrate SUB2and the viewing side 200, and the sensor unit SSU is disposed betweenthe viewing side 200 and the second substrate SUB2. The example (II) ofFIG. 5 illustrates that the first light blocking layer LB1 and thesensor unit SSU are both disposed on the upper surface SUB22 of thesecond substrate SUB2, and the sensor unit SSU is between the firstlight blocking layer LB1 and the second substrate SUB2. In theembodiments shown in FIG. 5 , the first light blocking layer LB1 isbetween the sensor unit SSU and the viewing side 200, that is, the firstlight blocking layer LB1 is between the sensor unit SSU and the userUSR, and the first light blocking layer LB1 is closer to the displaysurface 100 d of the electronic device 100 than the sensor unit SSU. Thedesign described above may reduce most background ambient light to enterthe sensor unit SSU from the viewing side 200 for increasing the signalto noise ratio of the sensor unit SSU when sensing. The relativearrangement of the sensor unit SSU and the first light blocking layerLB1 may be applied in various embodiments of the present disclosure, andwill not be described in the following.

In the embodiments illustrated in FIG. 5 , the second light blockinglayer LB2 is not illustrated, but the second light blocking layer LB2may be disposed corresponding to the sensor unit SSU in someembodiments, for example, disposed on the back side of the sensor unit,as shown in FIG. 6 .

Please refer to FIG. 6 . FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a third embodiment and a variant embodiment of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure. FIG. 6 mainly illustratesthe arrangement of the second substrate SUB2, the first light blockinglayer LB1, the second light blocking layer LB2 and the sensor unit SSU,and most of the other layers are omitted. The example (I) of FIG. 6illustrates that the second substrate SUB2 is between the first lightblocking layer LB1 and the sensor unit SSU, and the sensor unit SSU maybe surrounded by the second light blocking layer LB2. For example, theback side and the lateral side of the sensor 110 in the sensing elementSSE of the sensor unit SSU may be surrounded by the second lightblocking layer LB2, but not limited thereto. The example (II) of FIG. 6illustrates that the sensor unit SSU is between the first light blockinglayer LB1 and the second substrate SUB2, and the second light blockinglayer LB2 and the sensor unit SSU are at different sides of the secondsubstrate SUB2. Viewing form the back side, the second light blockinglayer LB2 at least partially blocks the back side of the sensor 110. Forexample, the sensor 110 may have a smaller size or width than thecorresponding second light blocking layer LB2 to reduce the proportionof light entering the sensor 110 from the back side of the sensor 110.It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the arrangement of thefirst light blocking layer LB1, the second light blocking layer LB2 andthe sensor unit SSU are not limited in the way shown in FIG. 6 . Inaddition, in some embodiments, the second light blocking layer LB2 maybe a light blocking layer corresponding to a plurality of sensors 110after being patterned. In other embodiments, the second light blockinglayer LB2 may be a large-area film covering most of the surface of thesecond substrate SUB2.

Please refer to FIG. 7 . FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview enlargement schematic diagram of a fourth embodiment and variantembodiments of an electronic device according to the present disclosure.FIG. 7 mainly illustrates the arrangement of the first light blockinglayer LB1, the second light blocking layer LB2 and the sensor unit SSUon the surface of the second substrate SUB2, and most of the otherlayers are omitted. In the example (I) of FIG. 7 , the first lightblocking layer LB1 is on the lower surface of the second substrate SUB2,that is, located between the sensor 110 and the second substrate SUB2.The first light blocking layer LB1 further includes an opening OPexposing part of the sensor 110. In other words, in a top view directionof the electronic device 100, the opening OP overlaps at least oneportion of the sensor unit SSU. The size (or the width) of the openingOP shown in FIG. 7 may be smaller than the size (or the width) of thesensor 110, but not limited thereto. The opening OP may be designed indifferent shapes or sizes as required. When performing fingerprintrecognition, the light reflected by a finger from one side of thedisplay surface 100 d may enter the sensor 110 through the opening OP,thereby increasing the total amount of the reflected light entering thesensor 110. In addition, the example (I) illustrates that the secondlight blocking layer LB2 covers the lower surface and the sidewall ofthe sensor 110. In the example (II), the substrate SUB2 is between thefirst light blocking layer LB1 and the sensor unit SSU, and the firstlight blocking layer LB1 includes an opening OP. In the example (III),the sensor 110 is between the first light blocking layer LB1 and thesecond substrate SUB2, and the first light blocking layer LB1 includesan opening OP. In the example (IV), the relative positions of the firstlight blocking layer LB1 and the sensor 100 are similar to the example(I), but the first light blocking layer LB1 includes a plurality ofsmaller openings OP adjacently arranged. This design benefits enhancingthe collimation of the incident light, that is, it is more likely tolimit the light entering the sensor 110 to the light incident in anormal direction, and the large angle incident light may be filtered.Disposing the opening OP in the first light blocking layer LB1 mayenable the sensor 110 to receive more light reflected from the fingers,and the signal intensity is increased, and in combination with the firstlight blocking layer LB1 which may block most of the ambient light, thusimproving the signal to noise ratio.

Please refer to FIG. 8 . FIG. 8 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a fifth embodiment of an electronic device according to thepresent disclosure. The electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 8 furtherincludes a cover CG disposed above the second substrate SUB2, and thecover CG may be a transparent glass substrate or a transparent softsubstrate for example, but not limited thereto. When performing fingerrecognition, the finger may touch the upper surface of the cover CG forrecognizing. In the direction DZ, the opening OP of the first lightblocking layer LB1 may not overlap the sensor 110 and may be located atthe adjacent side of the sensor 110. When the finger FGR approaches thecover CG, the light L1 emitted from a light source LSR of a lightemitting unit may enter the cover CG and be reflected by the finger FGRnear the upper surface of the cover CG, and the cover CG may be used asa light guiding plate, and the reflected light L2 may travel laterally(e.g., being totally reflected) in the cover CG to the far side beforeexiting the cover CG and enter the sensor 110 through the opening OP.For example, the light source LSR may be disposed on the first substrate(not shown) or the second substrate SUB2, e.g., disposed near the outeredge of the first substrate, but not limited thereto. In someembodiments, the light source LSR may be an additional elementindependently disposed outside the substrate.

Please refer to FIG. 9 . FIG. 9 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a variant embodiment of the fifth embodiment of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure. In the electronic device 100shown in FIG. 9 , the sensing element SSE1 corresponds to its adjacentpixel 1021, the sensing element SSE2 corresponds to it adjacent pixel1022, and the opening OP of the first light blocking layer LB1 has aninclined sidewall OPS. When the electronic device 100 performsfingerprint recognition, one sensor 110 may receive the reflected lightof the light emitted from the pixel that does not correspond to thesensor 110 itself. For example, the pixel 1022 is not adjacent to thesensing element SSE1 and does not correspond to the sensing elementSSE1, but the light L1 emitted from the pixel 1022 may be reflected bythe finger FGR to form the light L2, entering the sensor 110 of thesensing element SSE1 that is farther from the pixel 1022, and performfingerprint sensing and recognition. In FIG. 9 , the opening OP havingthe inclined sidewall OPS may be designed to receive the reflected lightof the pixel 1022 which is apart for the sensor 110 of the sensingelement SSE1 in a specific distance, but the present disclosure is notlimited thereto. The sensor 110 may receive the reflected light L2 ofthe light L1 emitted from the pixel with a longer distance, for example,may receive the reflected light L2 of the light L1 emitted from thepixel that are two pixels apart or more than two pixels apart.

Please refer to FIG. 10 . FIG. 10 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a sixth embodiment and variant embodiments of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure. The electronic device 100shown in FIG. 10 may further include a third light blocking layer LB3.As shown in the example (I), the first light blocking layer LB1 isdisposed on the upper surface of the second substrate SUB2, the secondlight blocking layer LB2 is disposed on the lower side of the sensor110, and the third light blocking layer LB3 is disposed between thesecond substrate SUB2 and the sensor unit 110. In the example (II), thefirst light blocking layer LB1 has an opening OP1, and the third lightblocking layer LB3 has an opening OP2. The opening OP1 and the openingOP2 may have approximately identical size and correspond to each otherup and down, and for example, the sidewalls of the opening OP1 and theopening OP2 are substantially aligned with each other, but not limitedthereto. The incident angle limitation formed by the opening OP1 and theopening OP2 may filter the incident light or increase the signal tonoise ratio. In the example (III), the size or width of the opening OP1is smaller than the size or width of the opening OP2, and the openingOP1 substantially corresponds to the central region of the opening OP2.In this design, the light L1 and the light L2 may pass through theopening OP1, the second substrate SUB2, and the opening OP2 in sequencewith a larger incident angle and then enter the sensor 110. In theexample (IV), a sidewall of the opening OP1 may be substantially alignedwith a sidewall of the opening OP2, and this design enables the light L1entering the sensor 110 and the light L2 entering the sensor 110 to havedifferent angles. The opening sizes and relative positions of theopening OP1 and the opening OP2 described above may be determinedaccording to the actual requirements of the products. The material ofthe third light blocking layer LB3 may be the same as or different fromthe first light blocking layer LB1 and the second light blocking layerLB2, and the size and width of the third light blocking layer LB3 arenot limited to those shown in FIG. 10 , which may be changed accordingto actual requirements. It should be noted that, the example (III) andthe example (IV) of FIG. 10 have different light incident angles, whichmay respectively correspond to the condition when the large angle light(e.g., when the light source is a distant pixel or a distant lightsource LSR) is detected or the condition when the small angle light(e.g., when the light source is a near pixel) is detected.

Please refer to FIG. 11 . FIG. 11 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a seventh embodiment of an electronic device according to thepresent disclosure, and the cross-sectional views illustrated in FIG. 11may substantially correspond to the line segment A-A′ and the linesegment B-B′ of FIG. 3 . In some embodiments, a light shielding layerLSL may be disposed above the driving transistor 106 and the readingtransistor 108, and the light shielding layer LSL may include low lighttransmittance materials, for example, including metals, but not limitedthereto. The light shielding layer LSL may be used as the first lightblocking layer LB1 mentioned in the above-described present disclosure,and the black matrix layer (which is used as the first light blockinglayer LB1 in the above-described embodiments) may be replaced by thelight shielding layer LSL. In addition, compared with theabove-described embodiments, the electronic device shown in FIG. 11 alsoomits the insulating layer 120 that may be used as an overcoating layer.Furthermore, in FIG. 11 , the light converting element 104 is betweenthe protective layer 128 and the planarization layer 130, and in thedirection DZ, the heights of the places where the light convertingelement 104 and the sensor 110 are disposed are approximately the same.That is to say, the sensor 110 may be disposed between the protectivelayer 128 and the planarization layer 130, too.

Please refer to FIG. 12 . FIG. 12 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a first variant embodiment of the seventh embodiment of anelectronic device according to the present disclosure, and thecross-sectional views illustrated in FIG. 12 may substantiallycorrespond to the line segment A-A′ and the line segment B-B′ of FIG. 3. The second light blocking layer LB2 of the electronic device 100 shownin FIG. 12 covers the lower surface of the second substrate SUB2 in alarge area. The second light blocking layer LB2 has openings LB21, andthe light converting elements 104 may be respectively disposed in one ofthe openings LB21. The second light blocking layer LB2 may include ablack matrix layer, but not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIG. 13 . FIG. 13 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a second variant embodiment of the seventh embodiment of anelectronic device according to the present disclosure, and FIG. 13 onlyillustrates the cross-sectional view substantially corresponding to theline segment A-A′ of FIG. 3 . In FIG. 13 , the insulating layer 122, thegate insulating layer 124, the insulating layer 126 and the protectivelayer 128 of the sensor unit SSU and the first light blocking layer LB1have an opening 168, and the opening 168 may accommodate the refractiveindex adjusting material 166. For example, the refractive index n of thematerial is greater than the refractive index of the first lightblocking layer LB1, and also may be greater than the insulating layer122, the gate insulating layer 124, the insulating layer 126 and theprotective layer 128, and the light is not easily to exit from thesidewall of the opening 168 after entering the opening 168, and thelight may be reflected downward in the opening 168 to enter the sensor110, and increase the light sensing efficiency. In another variantembodiment, the opening 168 and the refractive index adjusting material166 may be only located in the first light blocking layer LB1, and theinsulating layer 122, the gate insulating layer 124, the insulatinglayer 126 and the protective layer 128 do not have the opening 168.

Please refer to FIG. 14 , FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 . FIG. 14 is an enlargedpartial cross-sectional view of a third variant embodiment of theseventh embodiment of an electronic device according to the presentdisclosure. FIG. 15 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of afourth variant embodiment of the seventh embodiment of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure. FIG. 16 is an enlargedpartial cross-sectional view of a fifth variant embodiment of theseventh embodiment of an electronic device according to the presentdisclosure. In the electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 14 , theprotective layer 128 has the opening 168, and a portion of the sensor110 is disposed in the opening 168. In the electronic device 100 shownin FIG. 15 , the gate insulating layer 124, the insulating layer 126 andthe protective layer 128 has the opening 168, and a portion of thesensor 110 is disposed in the opening 168. Furthermore, in FIG. 15 , thefirst light blocking layer includes the opening OP, and the insulatinglayer 122 is filled in the opening OP. In this design, the travelingpath of the incident light may also be adjusted by using the differencein refractive indexes between the insulating layer 122 and the openingOP. In another variant embodiment, the first light blocking layer LB1may not have the opening OP. In the electronic device 100 shown in FIG.16 , the insulating layer 122, the gate insulating layer 124, theinsulating layer 126 and the protective layer 128 have the opening 168,and a portion of the sensor 110 and the second light blocking layer LB2is disposed in the opening 168. Furthermore, the first light blockinglayer LB1 has the opening OP, and a portion of the upper electrode 1101of the sensor 110 is disposed in the opening OP.

Please refer to FIG. 17 . FIG. 17 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of an eighth embodiment of an electronic device according to thepresent disclosure. In some embodiment, the electronic device 100 mayfurther include one or more lenses LEN disposed on the upper side of thesecond substrate SUB2. As shown in FIG. 17 , in the direction DZ, thefirst light blocking layer LB1 is disposed between the second substrateSUB2 and the lens LEN, and the first light blocking layer LB1 includesthe opening OP substantially corresponding to the sensor 110 and thelens LEN. In detail, a plurality of lenses LEN may be included on thesecond substrate SUB2, and the plurality of lenses LEN respectivelycorrespond to one sensor 110 and one opening OP of the first lightblocking layer LB1. In addition, the lens LEN may be adhered to thesurface of the first light blocking layer LB1 by using an adhesive layer174. It should be noted that, in FIG. 17 , the adhesive layer 174 alsocovers the region besides the opening OP, but this embodiment is notlimited thereto. In some embodiments, the adhesive layer 174 is onlylocated in the opening OP. On the other hand, the insulating layer 122,the gate insulating layer 124, the insulating layer 126 and theprotective layer 128 shown in FIG. 17 include the opening 168. Thesensor 110 is disposed in the opening 168, and the planarization layer176 covers the protective layer 128 and is filled in the opening 168. Itshould be noted that, at the opening 168, the sidewall of the insulatinglayer 126 and the sidewall of the protective layer 128 may not bealigned with the sidewall of the insulating layer 122 and the sidewallof the gate insulating layer 124, and the bias line 132 and a portion ofthe upper electrode 1101 of the sensor 110 may be disposed at a positionwhere the insulating layer 126 exposes the gate insulating layer 124. InFIG. 17 , another planarization layer 130 may cover the surface of theplanarization layer 176. The second light blocking layer LB2 may coverthe surface of the planarization layer 130.

Please refer to FIG. 18 . FIG. 18 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a variant embodiment of the eighth embodiment of an electronicdevice according to the present disclosure. In FIG. 18 , an insulatinglayer 180 may be disposed between the lens LEN and the first lightblocking layer LB1. The insulating layer 180, for example, includes (butis not limited to) the inorganic insulating materials, and a portion ofthe lens LEN and a portion of the insulating layer 180 may be bothdisposed in the opening OP of the light blocking layer LB1. In anothervariant embodiment (not shown), the first light blocking layer LB1 maybe disposed on the lower side of the second substrate SUB and may havethe opening OP, and the opening 168 exposes the opening OP. Furthermore,a portion of the sensor 110 is disposed in the opening OP and theopening 168.

Please refer to FIG. 19 . FIG. 19 is an enlarged partial cross-sectionalview of a ninth embodiment of an electronic device according to thepresent disclosure. In FIG. 19 , the second light blocking layer LB2 isdisposed on the bottom surface of the sensor 110 and the periphery ofthe bottom part of the sidewall of the sensor 110, and the third lightblocking layer LB3 is disposed on the periphery of the top part of thesidewall of the sensor 110. The third light blocking layer LB3 and thesecond light blocking layer LB2 may include different materials. Forexample, the second light blocking layer LB2 may have a greater elasticcoefficient or recovery property. A first alignment layer PI1 and asecond alignment layer PI2 are disposed on two sides of the displaymedia layer DML, the first alignment layer PI1 and the second alignmentlayer PI2 are respectively disposed adjacent to the upper surface SUB11of the first substrate SUB1 and the lower surface SUB21 of the secondsubstrate SUB2, among which the second alignment layer PI2 covers thesecond light blocking layer LB2 and the sensor 110. In the region havingthe sensor 110, the first alignment layer PI1 may contact the secondalignment layer PI2. The sensor 110 and the second light blocking layerLB2 may be used as a spacer of the display media layer DML for partiallyreplacing or totally replacing the photospacer, and to provide thefunction of maintaining the cell hap of the display media layer DML.When the second light blocking layer LB2 or the third light blockinglayer LB3 has a good recovery property, better support function may bealso provided when the second light blocking layer LB2 or the thirdlight blocking layer LB3 is used as the spacer. In some variantembodiments, the combination of sensor 110 and the second light blockinglayer LB2 still be used as the spacer of the display media layer DML,but the third light blocking layer LB3 is not included.

Please refer to FIG. 20 , FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 . FIG. 20 is a schematicdiagram of the signal according to an embodiment of a method ofperforming fingerprint recognition of an electronic device according tothe present disclosure. FIG. 21 is an exterior schematic diagram of anembodiment of an electronic device according to the present disclosure.FIG. 22 is a flowchart according to an embodiment of performingfingerprint recognition of an electronic device according to the presentdisclosure. The electronic device 100 applied to the method ofperforming fingerprint recognition of the present disclosure mayinclude, but not limited to, the structures in any embodiments orvariant embodiments described above. For example, the electronic device100 may include the first substrate, the second substrate, the sensorunit and the light emitting unit. The first substrate is on a side ofthe second substrate that is opposite to the display surface 100 d, thesensor unit is disposed on the second substrate, and the light emittingunit (e.g., the light source LSR shown in FIG. 8 or the backlight moduleBLU shown in FIG. 1 ) is on a side of the second substrate that isopposite to the display surface 100 d. The elements of the electronicdevice 100 described above may refer to the description of otherembodiments and related drawings of the present disclosure, notredundantly described herein. As shown in FIG. 21 , the display surface100 d may be discriminated into a general display region R1 and afingerprint recognition region R2. It should be noted that, although thefingerprint recognition region R2 has the function of fingerprintrecognition, the fingerprint recognition region R2 still may displayimages, and the occupied regions and sizes of the display region R1 andthe fingerprint recognition region R2 are not limited to those in FIG.21 . In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 may further includea frame FRM and a signal processing unit SPU. The frame FRM is on theouter side of the display surface 100 d, and the signal processing unitSPU may be disposed on the back side of the display surface 100 d. Asshown in FIG. 20 , the time period T1 represents that when fingerprintrecognition is not been performed yet, the light emitting unit mayremain in an “off” state or a long “on” mode (continuously emittinglight with uniform intensity). The time period T2 represents the timewhen the electronic device 100 of the present disclosure is in afingerprint recognition mode. When the fingerprint recognition mode ofthe electronic device 100 is started, the light emitting unit or lightsource for providing the fingerprint recognition light may produce thelight with intermittent intensity. For example, the light emitting unitwill be turned on or off with fixed time intervals, or the light sourcehas a fixed refresh frame rate. Before the finger touches the electronicdevice 100 for fingerprint recognition (the time period TA), the sensorunit for performing fingerprint recognition may only receive the ambientlight or the background light, and a light sensing signal of intensityS1 may be produced. When the user touches the electronic device 100 withthe finger for fingerprint recognition (the time period TB), the sensorunit may further receive the light reflected by the finger, and theintensity of the light sensing signal detected in the time period TBincludes the intensity S1 and intensity S2, among which the intensity S2is generated from the light reflected back from the finger to the sensorunit After the fingerprint recognition is completed and the fingerprintrecognition mode is turned off, it gets into the time period T3, thelight emitting unit may be turned off or the long “on” mode will berestored. The sensor unit may send the light sensing signal to thesignal processing unit SPU, the signal processing unit SPU maydistinguish the intermittent signal from the light sensing signal, thatis, the signal with intermittent intensity variation in the time periodTB, and the signal processing unit SPU may convert the intermittentsignal into the fingerprint recognition data. On the other hand, thesignal processing unit SPU may further distinguish the continuous signalfrom the light sensing signal, that is, the light sensing signalobtained in the time period TA and the time period T3, and when thesignal processing unit SPU converts the above-described intermittentsignal into the fingerprint recognition data, the above-describedcontinuous signal may be excluded. For example, the intensity of thecontinuous signal can be excluded from the light sensing signal, and thesignal intensity after calculating may have a greater intensitydifference.

According to the above description, an embodiment of the method ofperforming fingerprint recognition of the electronic device 100 of thepresent disclosure includes the following steps:

S100: providing an electronic device, wherein the electronic devicecomprises a sensor unit, a light emitting unit and a signal processingunit;

S102: starting a fingerprint recognition mode, that is to say, gettinginto the time T2 in FIG. 20 ;

S104: enabling the light emitting unit to produce a light withintermittent intensity;

S106: the sensor unit sending a sensed light sensing signal to thesignal processing unit SPU; and

S108: the signal processing unit SPU distinguishing an intermittentsignal from the light sensing signal and converting the intermittentsignal into a fingerprint recognition data.

According to the present disclosure, the electronic device may include asensor unit and at least one light blocking layer. The sensor unit maybe used to perform fingerprint recognition, and the at least one lightblocking layer is disposed between the sensor unit and the viewing side,that is, the light blocking layer is closer to the display surface thanthe sensor unit. The light blocking layer may block at least one portionof the sensor unit, and the total amount of ambient light entering thesensor unit may be reduced, thereby increasing the signal to noise ratioto improve the signal sensing effects and the accuracy of fingerprintrecognition. The electronic device of the present disclosure may adoptdifferent arrangement to change the relative positions of the lightconverting element, the sensor, the substrate and one or more lightblocking layers, the openings of the light blocking layers, the openingsof the insulating layers in different embodiments, and the electronicdevice with the fingerprint recognition function may be designedaccording to the actual requirements. In addition, according to themethod of fingerprint recognition in the disclosure, the accuracy of thefingerprint recognition is enhanced by deducting the background signalsor using the light emitting unit that emits light intermittently.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a firstsubstrate; a display unit disposed on the first substrate; a sensor unitdisposed on the first substrate; and a first light blocking layerdisposed between the sensor unit and the first substrate; a second lightblocking layer disposed on the sensor unit, wherein the second lightblocking layer has a first opening disposed corresponding to the sensorunit; a third light blocking layer disposed above the second lightblocking layer, wherein the third light blocking layer has a secondopening; a cover disposed above the third light blocking layer; and asecond substrate disposed between the cover and the first substrate,wherein the first light blocking layer blocks a light entering thesensor unit, and the display unit is disposed between the firstsubstrate and the third light blocking layer.
 2. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein the second opening is arranged corresponding to thefirst opening.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the secondsubstrate is disposed above the second light blocking layer, and thethird light blocking layer is disposed at a side of the second substrateopposite to the second light blocking layer.
 4. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the first light blocking layer covers a lower surfaceof the sensor unit.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1, furthercomprising a backlight module, wherein the first substrate is disposedon the backlight module.
 6. The electronic device of claim 5, whereinthe first substrate is disposed between the backlight module and thedisplay unit.
 7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the sensorunit is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate.8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the second substrate isdisposed between the sensor unit and the cover.
 9. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein the sensor unit includes a sensor, and the firstlight blocking layer surrounds the sensor.
 10. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the sensor unit is disposed between the secondsubstrate and the display unit.
 11. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the third light blocking layer is disposed at a side of thesecond substrate opposite to the sensor unit.
 12. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein the second substrate is disposed above the sensorunit, and the second light blocking layer is disposed between the firstlight blocking layer and the second substrate.
 13. The electronic deviceof claim 1, further comprising: a light converting element disposed inthe second opening of the third light blocking layer.
 14. The electronicdevice of claim 1, further comprising: a light converting elementdisposed at a side of the second substrate facing the sensor unit. 15.The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a light convertingelement disposed adjacent to the first light blocking layer.
 16. Anelectronic device, comprising: a first substrate; a display unitdisposed on the first substrate; a sensor unit disposed on the firstsubstrate; a first light blocking layer disposed between the sensor unitand the first substrate; a second substrate disposed above the sensorunit; another light blocking layer disposed at a side of the secondsubstrate opposite to the sensor unit, wherein the first light blockinglayer blocks a light entering the sensor unit.
 17. An electronic device,comprising: a first substrate; a display unit disposed on the firstsubstrate; a sensor unit disposed on the first substrate; a first lightblocking layer disposed between the sensor unit and the first substrate;a second light blocking layer disposed above the sensor unit, whereinthe second light blocking layer has an opening; and a light convertingelement disposed in the opening of the second light blocking layer,wherein the first light blocking layer blocks a light entering thesensor unit.